Ripples
by marysverse
Summary: Changing the future could change her whole life.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So it was kinda exciting that they made future Chloe the leader of Oliver and his merry band of heroes. Maybe there is still hope for our girl!

_Metropolis_

"Again." The tall blonde circled her again looking for his opening. He feinted left, she snapped her right leg to where his abdomen had been a millisecond ago. Twirling on the balls of his feet he threw an uppercut that barely missed and she landed a quick jab to his left lung and then doubled over in pain as his elbow smashed across her ribs.

"Again." She wheezed out as she stumbled back to her feet.

"No."

"Again!"

"No, this is enough for today."

"How the hell do you expect me get better?"

"I don't, this was your goal. I told you I'd help you, but I did not sign up to send you to the hospital everyday. Its enough for today." Chloe glared at him.

"You know I don't ask much of you Oliver." He walked over to her and began unwrapping her hands.

"You can't guilt trip me Chloe while your bleeding through your hand-wraps." Surprised she looked down and did indeed see that her knuckles were bleeding through the tape that was supposed to protect them.

"I thought that last jab should have given you more trouble." Chloe grumbled realizing that the impact had been lessened by slippery knuckles. She yanked her hands away and quickly rewrapped her hands.

"Chloe we are not going again."

"No, you're right. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"You could stay awhile." She twisted her lips into a smirk as she grabbed her coat.

"We have no current mission and we're not sparring so…what else would we do?" She asked this so innocently; it almost fully suppressed his urge to strangle her; almost.

"Yea, right, see you tomorrow." He responded, giving in to her obvious desire to keep this strictly business. She sailed out the door with a polite thank you that she had given him everyday for the past three weeks.

He made his way to his mini bar and poured himself a scotch. Catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror, he tried to objectively evaluate himself. He was wearing a pair of loose black work out pants and no shirt. His blonde hair spiking naturally from the sweat and his body was in good form being the only weapon he had against the bad guys aside from his trusty bow.

He could honestly say without a hint of narcissism that he was a reasonably good looking man and the fact that Chloe hadn't once taken a look at him was doing serious damage to his ego. Sure she looked at him, at his body but always as a way to read what his next move would be. Never like a woman would look at a man. He downed his drink with a soft chuckle dismissing his musings, they were friends and compatriots, he shouldn't want more from her.

A spontaneous breeze let him know that Clark had decided to visit.

"How's the bonding session going with Zod?"

"You shouldn't let her push so much, she's only hurting herself." If he wasn't such a boyscout, he would deck the alien, always so righteous and judgmental.

"Forgive me, but I'm willing to help her anyway she wants to avoid the impending future, or lack thereof in Chloe's and my case."

"How is beating herself up with you going to help?"

"Listen Clark, I know you don't understand. Its impossible for someone who's indestructible and who's got an entire league of people backing you in your continued existence to comprehend what it is to be mortal. What it is die. She's fighting for her life Clark, and I'll take that over passive acceptance any day of the week."

"I'm changing the future Oliver, it won't happen the way Lois saw."

"Well Clark, even in the worst case scenario of the future; your life turned up fairly roses huh? You got Lois, you got your yellow sun and you got your powers. She and I were shadows of our former selves and bit the dust to boot. I have a lot of faith in you Clark and I know you will do good things in this world but we can't rely on you to always be there to save us, cause in the future you're not. You were busy with getting the yellow sun back to even know that we didn't survive. And I don't hold it against you, taking power away from Zod and his army was way more important than two measly lives, but damned if I'm going to let whatever happens happen."

"I'm already changing the future by changing my tactic with Zod." Clark crossed his arms and gave Oliver his best 'I will it therefore it will be' face. Ollie wasn't buying it though.

"Who says it will be for the better? Face it Clark, let's talk about the real issue you have. You don't trust Chloe. Deep down, you haven't forgiven her for trying to save Davis and on the same coin you condemn her for trying to kill him to protect you. She went against your plan, your intentions and shocked your sensibilities of right and wrong. And maybe, you got a glimpse of the world as she sees it, a world of a million shades of gray. And now you're scared and you're punishing her. But I get it, sandbox love can't last forever."

"Sandbox love?"

"Yeah, you know that intense trust and closeness you have with your very best friend as a kid, just can't survive transitions into adulthood." Oliver chuckled to himself musing how things would have been had Chloe been his sandbox love. But to tell the truth, she wouldn't have given him the time of day, he was a rich spoiled brat and she probably would have sent him crying to his mommy.

"Just let it be Clark, you're letting her go so let her go. Let her forget how important you once were in her life, how your opinion meant everything to her. It's not fair for you to not trust her, to treat her like the enemy from time to time but then turn around and impose your views on her life." Clark shifted uncomfortably not knowing how to respond.

"I don't want to let her go."

"It's a cruelty to keep a gal in your back pocket."

"She's not in my back pocket, she's in my front pocket. I've never met anyone else who could blow my world apart but also put it back together when I need it simply by being who they are. She terrifies me and uplifts me and challenges me and I have this incredibly depressing feeling that I'm never going to be what she needs. What she wants, maybe, but what she needs? I like Lois, maybe I could even love Lois, but deep down I know it's a star-crossed sort of thing. Probably crash and burn and we'll both recover and eventually reconcile to friendship. But Chloe, I'm not sure I'd recover if things went sour. If she realizes I'm not what she thinks of me, that her love and faith were misplaced. Could you recover from that?"

Oliver took a fortifying swig of his drink, extremely caught off guard by Clark's frank assessment of his feelings for Chloe.

"I don't think you give her enough credit Clark. She's seen me at my very worst and she doesn't respect me or believe in me any less than before. Its that trust issue."

"I just think she's pushing herself too hard, I'm asking you to help her ease up a bit."

"Clark we are doing some intense sessions, but no one has ever died from three hours of training."

"You don't know? You don't think this is the only training she's doing, do you?"

_Gotham City_

Her punch front tuck sent her sailing over the grimy thug's outreached arms. A thready warbled wailing from the middle aged brunette who didn't have the sense to let go of her purse when the thug had grabbed for it provided an annoying soundtrack to this fight. He swung wildly for her again, dodging was a piece of cake and the roundhouse she followed up with was pure icing baby. Knocked out cold, just they way she liked them.

"Lady, you gotta stop wailing. Bad guy is down, no one is going to hurt you." She continued to cry pathetically.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" At that the Lady immediately stopped her lamenting and clutched her purse tighter, murmured a thank you and walked briskly away.

"I just saved you crazy, why would I hurt you?" Chloe yelled half-heartedly after the rapidly disappearing woman.

"Not bad." A voice from the shadows called out.

"But you could have had him in two moves instead of the five that you used."

"Hmph." She retorted through clenched teeth as she looked for her purse that she usually carried.

"You didn't bring one because I told you to get used to traveling light." The shadow voice provided after her initial search proved fruitless.

"Do you know how difficult it is for a girl to be without a purse? Its like an appendage that I constantly forget that I don't have anymore." She could practically feel the mockery emanating from the shadows.

"For once, I'd like you to make it my place without you getting involved in street fights. Its usually quiet this time of day yet you manage to always find trouble every time."

"Trouble finds me my friend. Shall we go?"


	2. Chapter 2

_The Daily Planet_

Lois crumpled up Gotham Press' front-page section and hurled it with all her might in to the wastebasket.

"Who does he think he is?" She fumed at a very confused Clark Kent sitting across from her. Clark just sat back attentively knowing she would just steamroll over his questions.

"I mean a damn freelancer! Really?" She stood up and started pacing the room.

"How is he landing these stories, he's a fucking nomad!"

"Clark! Are you listening to me?"

"What? Yes, I'm definitely listening. I thought the last question was rhetorical."

"You should care about this Smallville. This affects you too. He's stealing stories right from underneath us, last week he had inside scoop on Tess Mercer's bio warfare experiments that landed him headlining our very own Daily Planet issue. How did that even slip by her radar?"

"Oh, did you have a lead in that story also?"

"Well no, but I would have gotten it eventually, he just beat me to the punch."

"Besides, he writes under a pseudonym, I hardly think _Veritas_ is his or her real name. Veritas could very well be a Daily Planet employee."

"I don't care who he or she is. Veritas is getting a lot of bylines and I'm not going to sit on the sidelines while he scoops the stories." She stormed off, no doubt to go chase an ambulance or find some stranger and beat a lead out of him. He sighed to himself as he watched her go, what can a man do with a gal like that. Besides he was still preoccupied with Oliver's words reverberating in his head. He had tried to let her go, after Jimmy, he thought it would be for the best all around. But to be honest, she was always the brains and there were some things he couldn't just alien super power his way through. Problem was, he still thought of her as a sidekick, maybe one that he had to watch out of the corner of his eye but still his sidekick. And she wasn't that anymore. She had the answers before he even knew the question, she was running operations and research completely solo and yeah, that hurt a little. That he had left her, and she had turned out stronger for it, perfectly capable and better than ever. She didn't need him.

Of course a rational part of him knew this line of thinking was utterly ridiculous. And seventy-five percent of him was very happy Chloe was growing into her own, but a part of him wanted her to fail, wanted her to need his hand, his strength. How selfish was that?

_Chloe's Watchtower_

She had been awake for a few minutes, dreading the first move. When she had first started training, she could hardly sleep at night from all the aches and pains. Gradually she began to sleep through the night again, but getting up and moving was always the hardest part of her day. Gently she did a slight stretch of her back and to her surprise, she felt no wrenching muscular pain. Sitting up gingerly, a tiny victorious smile appeared on her face at being pain free. She was getting stronger. It didn't even occur to her to check her bruises and scrapes, she was just used to them being there. The cold blue bruises of bruised muscles and broken blood vessels that inevitably blossomed to a sickly yellow before disappearing were something she tried to ignore. But if she had checked, she might have found something even more surprising.

Jumping out of bed, something she had not been able to do since day 1 of her training, she eagerly pulled out her yoga mat to do her morning strength exercises. She had made herself a deal when she discovered how difficult it was to motivate her body out of bed. No coffee until her strength exercises were complete. Chloe happily found herself sailing through them this morning and two hours later, including time to shower; she was enjoying her earliest cup of brew yet.

_Oliver's Penthouse_

"Hey Ollie. Where are you?" Chloe called out. It was customary for her to go directly to the training room, Oliver had given her a key to his place quite some time ago, so she could do warm-ups while waiting for him to finish whatever CEOs of conglomerate corporations did. But Oliver still had not shown up.

"Ollie?" She ventured to his office, not keen to invade his business space. He was sitting behind his desk looking out onto the skyline of Metropolis. He turned to her after a moment and gave her an appraising look. A head to toe inspection that had her wondering what she had done wrong. Abruptly he got up from his desk and grabbed his coat.

"Oh, are we not training today?"

"We are going somewhere else. Grab your things."

"I didn't bring anything with me."

His mouth pursed tightly together as he asked her, "Traveling light these days are we?" A faint blush reached her cheeks as she silently wondered if he knew Batman.

He swept past her and led her to his waiting limo. It was a long a silent ride to wherever they were going. Ollie staring out the window and Chloe clasping her hands tightly in her lap, feeling for all intents and purposes like a little girl that had gotten into some serious trouble. After arriving at their destination, she got out of the car to find herself in front of Tequilas, a very good, very expensive Mexican restaurant.

"Umm, you want me to learn how to cook Mexican food?" Chloe asked faintly, wrinkling her nose in apprehension, cooking was not anywhere near a forte for her.

"No." Was his only response as he dragged her into the restaurant and sat her unceremoniously in a chair at a private table.

"I want you to eat." Okay, Chloe thought, something is definitely up, since when are Ollie and I dining out buddies. But I'll play along and see where this goes. She ordered black bean soup and ceviche and waited for Oliver to tell her what was bugging him.

"You're too skinny." Oliver finally said.

"You're worried about my dietary habits and decided to drag me to a fancy restaurant?"

"Just eat." He said as a bowl of soup was placed in front of her. She obediently complied, still wondering where this was going. He watched her eat and didn't speak again until she had finished every drop of the soup.

"I can't train you anymore."

"Okay, I understand that you're busy, you didn't need to break it me like this."

"Its not because I'm busy."

"Well, if you don't want to anymore Ollie, that's fine, whatever the reason. I appreciate you helping me as much as you did."

"No you silly girl, its because you are doing double training and are wearing yourself ragged."

"Oh."

"I can't believe I didn't notice it before, but some of the moves you do, I never taught you. I'm not even familiar with some of them. And there'd be bruises on your body I didn't remember putting there and you'd be so tight and sore and I just thought you were having a hard time adjusting to my training." He laughed bitterly to himself.

"Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I just thought learning from two different sources would up my chances of success."

"That sounds reasonable enough in theory Chloe, but in practice, you are wreaking havoc on your body. Number one rule is to always take care of yourself, if you're hurt, you can't fully protect yourself or anyone else."

"In truth, it was hard, and in retrospect I know I was pushing myself too hard. But I'm fine now, my body has adjusted. First morning where I didn't start my day crying from the pain." She smiled brightly at him, hoping to reassure him. But perhaps that last bit was an over share of information because he just gave her a withering glare.

"Clark was right, you're pushing too hard. You need to ease up." So this was about Clark. How was it that he was still interfering with her life after throwing her out of his.

"I appreciate the talk, thanks for training me as much as you did. If you don't want to do it anymore, that is entirely up to you. But this discussion is over. Clark has no business in this."

"He's worried about you." Chloe made a half-heartedly repressed noise of disbelief and waited for him to let the subject go.

"Chloe I'm not one to get involved in personal things, but I feel like you should know this. He loves you very much, more than anyone, especially you, ever realized. And he's not perfect, maybe you could cut him some slack."

"I think I've been as understanding as I can be since he dumped me as his best friend. Just leave it be Oliver, our relationship is the way it is."

He thought about saying more, but Clark had said those things to him in confidence. And as much as he liked Clark, he was in no hurry to help Chloe into Clark's arms. He was still battling these feelings for her himself. He knew, that if she was at all interested in him, they would be perfect. She would be perfect for him and he would do his best to be perfect for her. But Clark would always be this huge shadow over their relationship. Jimmy had felt it, Davis had felt it. Neither one of them had been able to hack it. Was he any stronger?

"Thanks for lunch, but I've got to get going." Oliver stood up about to tell her he would take her back, but she was already walking away. She hadn't even eaten her ceviche.


	3. Chapter 3

**Gotham**

"_Master Bruce?"_ Alfred's voice announced, _"Oliver Queen is here to see you."_

A thoughtful nod from Bruce signaled Alfred to escort the visitor to his study.

Bruce stood up and strolled to his wet bar, his mind flashing through possible reasons for the visit. He poured two fingers of Glenlivet in two glasses and waited.

"_Bruce,"_ Oliver greeted, _"sorry for the intrusion."_

"_No apologies necessary my friend."_ Bruce said as he turned on his playboy persona and handed Oliver his drink.

"_Any excuse to not drink alone is good with me."_ Bruce said as he took a healthy swig of whiskey.

"_How is your Star City Empire coming along?"_

"_Ah, it pretty much runs itself, I've been doing a lot of business in Metropolis actually."_

"_Taking advantage of the absence of Luthors? Smart. I've been hearing about this 'red blue blur' in Metropolis, have you ever seen him?"_

"_Funny you bring that up, I came to ask you about your city's own Batman."_

"_The crazed vigilante?" _Bruce smoothed his face over with a laissez-faire expression though his entire body was on high alert.

"_I thought you might know how to contact him."_

"_I know how the police chief contacts him."_

"_I need to speak with him."_

"_Oh, what about?"_

"_That's between him and me."_ Oliver said, casually sipping the smooth amber liquid.

"_Sorry my friend, I'm afraid I'm going to need a reason for him to call in a favor like that."_

Oliver pierced him with a sharp stare, he had often thought Bruce knew Batman far better than he had ever let on.

"_Tell him we have a mutual acquaintance, Chloe Sullivan. And there are some…concerns." _Bruce curiosity was running wild, but any more questions would make the stubborn blond too suspicious.

"_I'll pass it on and let you know if he's agreeable to it. No promises."_

"_Thanks."_

"_While I've got you here, I need a promise that you'll be attending the Feeding Hands Benefit next week."_

"_Wouldn't miss one of your parties."_

"_You've missed plenty." _Bruce corrected good naturedly clapping a friendly hand on Oliver's back.

"_Not everyone can keep up with you."_ Oliver teased back as he set his glass on the bar and made his way to the door.

"_It was good to see you again, I look forward to next week."_

Bruce smiled warmly at Oliver being sure to flash his teeth as he walked Oliver out. Only when Oliver was firmly ensconced in his town car and well on his way out of sight did Bruce allow his megawatt smile to drop as he retired inside to puzzle out his new turn of events.

**Metropolis**

"_What do you need Clark?" _Chloe asked as soon as she felt a faint breeze brsh her skin. He was getting much better at his entrances.

She turned to face him. He was in an all black outfit and a black trench coat looking more villain that hero. His costume needs some work, she thought to herself.

"_I just came to see you."_ Clark looked at her for a long time, he couldn't remember the last time he had really looked at her. Probably because every time he did, he realized how much more heart-breakingly beautiful she got every day.

"_Well, now you've seen me."_ Chloe said, her eyes returning to the computer screen.

"_What are you working on?" _Before Clark would have just walked over to her and seen for himself what she was doing. But things had changed, he doubted she would welcome the intrusion.

Chloe took a fortifying breath before speaking, not wanting to snap at her former friend.

"_Listen Clark, I've accepted your desire to let go of our friendship. I even understand and agree with it. And while we do still have to work together on occasion, I'm not seeing how this fits into hero business?"_

Clark strode closer to her, tempted to grab her and shake her. A few paces away he stopped and tried to get a grip of himself.

"_Can't we get past this Chlo? Chalk up my abandonment of you to a misguided sense of duty. I was wrong, there's no way around it, you are in my life forever and I won't have it any other way, I can't have it any other way."_

"_You forget Clark, I'm not going to be in your life forever. According to the future, I only have a few months left." _Clark grabbed her shoulders at her words.

"_That's never going to happen, I won't let it."_

She gave him a faint smile and turned back to her computer.

"_Why did you do it?"_ Clark asked, putting voice to a question he'd had running rampant inside of him for awhile.

"_Do what?"_

_Stop me from sending Davis to the Phantom Zone."_ Her hands faltered on her keyboard, surprised that he was bringing this up.

"_Because you still call him Davis."_ She finally responded softly.

"_What does that have to do with anything?" _She took his hands that he still had clasped to her shoulders and held them in her lap.

"_Remember when you came back from the Phantom Zone? You were pretty freaked out. About the existence of such a terrible place, racked with guilt that you had to send the escaped prisoners back to the Zone. You did it because you had to, but I know you struggled with it. And they were hardened criminals, murderers that you were feeling so guilty about. How do you think you would do sending Davis there? You still think of him as Davis, not as Doomsday. Davis is the guy that can't help that he was designed and born to be a monster, Davis is the guy who has no control over who or what he is, Davis is the guy that is terrified of his counterpart. What would you have done with that guilt? I thought you would spiral out of control, let the guilt eat all the good inside you, let it lose your faith and lead you to end up like Lex."_

"_Lex?"_

"_Lex started off trying to make good in a small town. Trying to fight the corruption of his father and shake off the Luthor stigma. And look how he ended up. Davis was a judgment call Clark, one that I was wrong on. I thought that at the worst, my life was on the line; I never thought Jimmy would be in the crosshairs. Your soul for Jimmy's life? Had I known, I would have cheered you on as you put Davis into the Zone."_

"_You can't blame yourself, you were doing what you thought was right. I never knew you did it for me."_ Clark pleaded with her, gripping her small hands tighter in his.

She let go of his hands and turned away again.

"_I only told you that so you'll stop blaming yourself for Jimmy."_ He gently turned her back around to face him.

"_So I've made mistakes, you've made mistakes. Let's just get passed it and move on. Why are you still freezing me out?"_ Chloe looked at him, surprised evident in her face.

"_Clark, I'm not freezing you out because of Jimmy. I agree with you. Us being friends, it's unhealthy. We have got to move on and grow up. It took me awhile to accept it, but you were right."_ Clark felt like his world was collapsing in around him.

"_No Chloe. Remember? We are supposed to grow into each other, not apart!"_

"_Clark, you're remembering a girl from a long time ago. When I wrote that, I was a different person. For god's sake, we were teenagers. Of course I had these intense feelings for you, until I realized that the intensity came from the mystery, the elusiveness."_

This was a dream, Clark thought to himself. A terrible nightmare that he was trapped in. He never thought that she would grow out of love with him.

"_But I love you Chloe, I'm in love with you. Have been for my entire life it seems."_

She looked at him for once without the remote detachment he had gotten used to seeing lately. She looked at him with something far worse. He saw nothing but pity reflected in her face.

"_I'm sorry Clark, but I don't feel that way anymore. Haven't for a very long time."_


	4. Chapter 4

"How does she do that?" He muttered to himself, still stinging from their last encounter. There she was, standing there, the face of an angel, the dress of a rock star, glittering in silver and black.

"How does who do what?" Lois asked him, her gaze searching the crowd for who he was staring at.

"Nothing." Clark mumbled, quickly moving his gaze away.

"Oh look, Chloe is here! Let's go say hi." Lois threaded her way through the crowd without waiting for Clark, giving him no opportunity to make an excuse.

He trailed miserably after her, uncomfortable with facing her after his rejected declaration.

"Chloe!" Lois called, grabbing her for a tight hug.

"Lo! Long time no see."

"Yeah, well, I've been upping my game at the Planet. My job security is in question because of this Veritas character swooping stories right and left."

"Oh, umm…God I'm sorry Lo. I've been meaning to tell you that I've been writing freelance." A tentative half-smile formed on her face, knowing Lois was either going to have a complete melt down or be totally ecstatically supportive, there was no middle ground with her.

"Holy crap it's you! You changed your writing style, I didn't recognize it at all. Oh my god coz, congrats, I'm so glad you're back in the game." She pulled her in for another hug, she had never agreed with Chloe's decision to stay out of journalism after the bastard Lex fired her.

Laughing in relief, Chloe squeezed her tighter, happy the potential rift inducing news was taken so well.

"Clark, did you know about this? Can you believe it? Now we know who we need to beat." Lois kinked her eyebrow up and gave a playful punch to Chloe's shoulder.

He ran an awkward hand through his hair, "Nope, had no idea." His gaze lingered on her, searching her eyes for any change, but she was already turning away as Oliver approached her.

"Geeze, who isn't at this shindig? And why are you here Chlo? We are only here because this fluff piece is mandatory. You alter ego does not do fluff pieces. Wait is there a story here that we don't know about? What is it? No wait, I don't wanna know. I'll find out myself." She smiled with a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Down girl. No story, she came as my date." Oliver explained before Lois started interrogating all the guests.

"Well if that isn't breaking news, I don't know what is."

"Lo, don't get a head of yourself. I'm just saving Oliver from a night of dealing with an insanely hot but insipid supermodel. I'm a good friend aren't I?" She asked cheekily.

"Hey no complaints here, I get the insanely hot without the insipid. Win, win for me." Chloe blushed a bit, furious that Oliver's flirtations still had the power to make her feel like a little school girl.

And then all hell broke loose.

Glass rained down from the skylights as bodies dressed all in black rappelled down nylon ropes. People tried to scatter, but bikers came zooming in and corralled the guests off into sections, herding them like cattle.

"Keep her safe." She whispered under her breath so only the one with super hearing could hear her, and dashed off with Oliver.

Together they fought through the crowds, but a biker was blocking the only way to the room that they had stashed Ollie's Green Arrow gear in. Slipping a knife off the table, she unobtrusively threw it at leg of the biker, silently thanking Batman for his schooling when she hit her mark.

They slipped past the blubbering fool and ran to their gear. Oliver quickly changed while slipped into hers.

He paused on the way out, looking at her, he hadn't seen her in her costume yet and he had to admit, it was pretty impressive. But he paused because he felt like there were things he should say. This was her first time really out, as a fully costumed vigilante. He was worried.

But she just gave him a smirk and a fist bang before turning down the corridor. Shaking his head at her, he ran the opposite direction.

Had she known about the euphoria that comes with kicking ass, she would have started training a long time ago. She could barely remember what she did or who she fought. The sequences came to her in flashes, a counter cross across someone's cheek, an elbow smash that sent out a few pearly whites, a flying knee to a stomach that had him heaving on the ground.

Really she knew this was serious business and she should absolutely, under no circumstances gain any pleasure from it. But, god, it was fun.

Before she knew it, the crisis was over. Between Batman, the Blur and Green Arrow, they had cleaned up most of the mess. Her and Oliver had returned to room to grab their civilian clothes and get the hell out of dodge when a funny look passed over his face.

"Ollie?" He grimaced a little and a fine sheen of sweat broke out across his forehead. Stumbling forward, he collapsed as Chloe rushed to his side.

Batman and Clark came into the room right as she was turning Oliver over, inspecting him for any wounds.

She found the gunshot wound to his stomach right away, cursing him for not telling her sooner.

"Hey," He whispered weakly, "you did good out there. I saw you, you did real good. I loved it, I loved watching you go." He gave her a sweet smile with a far off look in his eyes.

"Ollie, no." She cried, still pressing her hand against his wound trying to stem the blood. She looked down and saw her hand was glowing faintly.

Concentrating, she tried to make it brighter.

"Chloe no!" Clark shouted at her, seeing the light coming from her. He reached for her but it was too late.

Blinding light filled the room.


End file.
